Escape from Hell?
by outawork
Summary: It's been 10 years since the entire Zootopian civilization has moved to Earth and defeated the walking dead. Judy found a new portal which connects to a new Earth where humans and their allies are fighting their own implacable enemies. Out of necessity and friendship they pitch in to help with all their advanced technology. This story is a sequel to 'Are We in Hell'
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Zootopia or any of it characters, they all belong to Disney. I do not own The Walking Dead or any of its characters, they all belong to AMC and Robert Kirkman. I do not own Destroyermen or any of its characters, they all belong to Taylor Anderson.**

'Is This Hell?' is the prequel to this story

Escape from Hell?

Chapter 1

The APC just able to fit through the cave, but the tanks were much too wide. One of the small helicopters was slowly pulled through the cave behind the APC. They talked about blasting the cave wider, but since Ben was in charge he made the decision to wait for the combat engineers from the army to arrive. He did make the decision to contact the humans and their allies on the other Earth. He thought since Judy and Sofia had already made contact it would be easier to ask for forgiveness than ask for permission. He thought it was a good idea to get the humans and Lemurians back as fast as possible before their friends started looking to them.

He left fifty of his troops to guard the cave and took the rest with him. The helicopter was checked for damage and taken for a short test flight. Then it brought back and loaded. He smiled as the humans and Lemurians gawked.

"I never saw anything like it," Joe said.

"The helicopter like this one was invented by Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky in 1939," Ben said reading from his tablet.

"In only five year ago?"

"It's 1944 here?"

"Yes," Joe said drawing out the word.

"On that Earth it's 2020 AD and the one we're from its 1018 AD," Ben said and watched Joe's eyebrows rise. "How about if we talk about religion a bit later."

"Sound like that's a good idea to me," Joe said thinking about the implications. "Let's go visit my friends."

* * *

To say that the humans and Lemurians on the Easter Island base were just a bit surprised by a group bipedal animals and humans led by seven foot Cheetah would have been an understatement. When the helicopter flew over the base personnel ducked. When Ben saw a Lemurian and what he assumed to be guards running toward them he stepped forward to greet them.

They stopped ten feet away only to look up to watch the helicopter. He smiled and turned to his radioman.

"Have them set it down next to the APC."

Ben watched their heads drop as the helicopter settled only then to be surprised to see him.

"Brigadier General Benjamin Clawhauser commander of the Easter Island forces."

"Commander, there's a …"

"Portal."

"Thanks," Joe said and smiled at Ben. "Portal to another Earth on the other side of the Island. A bunny…"

"Rabbit," Judy said coming forward with her Fox.

"Judy and her daughter found us and we sorta followed them back to their Easter Island."

"You lead them here?"

"No sir," Joe said shaking his head. "Judy already saw our base and we just came back with them to meet everyone."

The Lemurian commander closed her eyes and shook her head.

"Commander, how would you like to see this island from the air?" Ben asked.

* * *

The explosion was so large it shook both islands and made the ocean ripple. The explosives were set to blow the rubble toward the sea. Only a small amount actually landed on the island. They used one helicopter on the 1944 side and another on the 2020 side to determine the size of the portal. It turned out to be an ellipse over a mile high and half mile wide. They breathed a sigh of relief that it didn't extend into the ocean after they heard about some of the life forms that inhabited the 1944 side. They painted the ground red on both sides of the portal for the aircraft that would soon be passing through and put up large balloons near the edges. So as long as a plane flew under 4000 feet and stayed in center track they would be fine.

There had been a short runway on the 1944 side and within a week it had been extended to 12000 feet. The first VTOL jets were flown through on the second day and setup a combat air patrol was setup over the island and 200 miles around it. The first heavy transports landed then next week disgorging heavy equipment, fuel, and engineers. Of course the same thing was being done on the 2020 Easter Island too.

The Lemurian commander watched the installation of the large rollers through the portal and beyond.

"Ben, what are your people up to?"

"We are going to bring some ships across."

The Lemurian just stared at him for a moment and then came to himself.

"What kind?"

"Let go for a walk."

They walk though the portal and they took a ride across the island to the bay on other side of the island. An entire battle group including an aircraft carrier was anchored off the island.

"So tell me about your airports at Manila, Hawaii, and Diego Garcia."

* * *

Matthew Reddy, Commander-in-Chief Allied Forces and the Captain of USS Walker read the message relayed from Easter Island the third time. A portal had been found connecting this Earth with another where there had been a plague of walking dead that had almost wiped out humanity. They had been saved from extinction by intelligent animals from different Earth that had moved their entire population there to escape an asteroid that destroyed their planet. It had read like one of those science fiction stories from Astounding he'd read when he was younger. An emissary from their Earth would be arriving today in just over an hour. He had to smile.

They had cleared bushes and trees in a square of 25,000 square feet and marked it as requested. He wondered how they could land a aircraft in such a small place. One thing had come to mind, but that was of course ridiculous. He'd sent up planes to watch for them and the first sighting come in half an hour before they were suppose to land.

"Sir, it's the largest plane I ever seen in my life!" the human pilot said excitedly. "I'd bet if you took the wings off a clipper you could fit two of them inside it!"

"Then it's a cargo plane."

"Sir, that would be my guess too," he said and lowered his voice, "and sir, it doesn't have any propellers."

Matt's eyebrows went up and Courtney Bradford clapped his hands and did a little jig.

"I can't wait to see it!" the Australian exclaimed. "Since their world is 76 years ahead of ours and they must be much more technically advanced. That plane must be a jet. I heard they were experimenting with them in Britain and the US before the war. I'll bet the NAZIs were too. I can't wait to see it."

Half an hour later he got his wish. The plane flew over at about 3000 feet and then circled. Each time it slowed and dropped lower until it hovered over the cleared area. Matt knew his mouth was hanging open and guessed that everyone else's was too. He was glad they heeded their warning and stayed far back from the landing site. But it was still so loud that he and everyone else had fingers in their ears. He watched as its wheels drop and then it floated down to the ground. Then engines wound down and a large ramp dropped from the tail. The first down the ramp was a Cheetah and human woman and followed by other animals, humans, and a few Lemurians.

The Cheetah walked directly up to Matt and saluted. Matt returned it.

"Major General Benjamin Clawhauser, commander of the Earth 3 Expeditionary Forces."

"Matthew Reddy, Commander-in-Chief Allied Forces."

Ben extended his hand and Matt took it.

"First, let me introduce some of people and animals that I've brought with me," Ben said and put his arm around the woman by his side. "This is my wife Beth."

"You married a human!" Courtney blurted out and Ben smiled showing a lot of teeth.

"You must be Courtney Bradford," Beth said and held out a hand. "We were bonded when I was 16 and married when I was 18."

Courtney took the proffered hand and then thought better of what he'd just said.

"I didn't mean to …" Courtney began.

"You're not the first human we've met who was surprised," Beth said smiling at his discomfiture and turned to Captain Reddy. "Captain Reddy, this is Judy Wilde. She discovered the portal and met some of your men and Lemurians."

Judy held out a hand and Matt dropped to his knees not to tower over the Rabbit taking her hand. She shook it and Matt was surprised with the strength of her grip.

"We had a long talk with them and told us a lot about your problems," Judy said and smiled. "I think we can help each other."

"How?"

"We just ended a ten year long war with an implacable enemy who had no thought of how many it sacrificed to kill one of us," Judy said. "From what we were told by your people it must sound a bit like your war. Trust me it wasn't. We faced seven billion mindless walking corpses. If they bit or scratched a human he or she would die and then be resurrected. If a human died of anything but head trauma they would resurrect too. It took us ten years to conquer that Earth. Fortunately we animals were naturally immune as are the humans and Lemurians on this version of Earth. Of course we didn't have any Grik to test."

"Are you sure?" Courtney asked.

"You can trust Judy," the Fox said standing behind her. "She's a great doctor and even a better fighter." The Rabbit's ears turned pink. "Why else would I have married her?"

Nick got an elbow in the ribs and Courtney's eyebrows rose.

"The genetic markers were not there in either species," Judy said looking serious.

"When you have time I'd like to speak to you about that," Courtney said.

"Sure," the Rabbit said and smiled.

"Captain Reddy …"

"Ben, please call me Matt."

"Matt, why don't we step over to our plane," he said and smiled. "We brought along some things that I thought you could use."

Matt started up the ramp and came face to face with a pair of fighters with folded up wings. A second pair sat behind them.

"Captain Reddy!" Courtney said excitedly. "These are jets like I was telling you about!"

"Your people told us that you're getting bombed every night," Ben said putting a hand on one of them. "They'll go out and destroy those Zeppelins before can get anywhere near this harbor."

"At night!"

"They have radar and we're going to set up a radar station here too."

The word radar seemed to tickle something in his memory and then he looked at Courtney. The Australian smiled and dropped into lecture mode.

"Radar means radio detection and ranging. A signal is sent out by an antenna and a receiver detects the echoes off any objects in the path of the signal. So they should be able to detect the incoming Zeppelins in at a distance."

"Then we'll vector in these jets and they shoot them down."

"They have cables strung between them."

"We'll just have the pilots attack them from below, above, and along the outer sides."

Ben led them deeper into the huge cargo plan and into an elevator. It took the elevator took three trips to get everyone to the upper deck. They were taken to a conference room which was actually cool! They sat at the table while the crew started to unload the fighter planes and cargo.

"So I'd guess you must have a few more questions," Ben said and smiled. "As I requested and with your permission we are sending planes like this on to Hawaii, Manila, and Diego Garcia. Our engineers will lengthen the existing runways and then we'll bring in heavy bombers. We also want to setup a launch facilities on the island Borneo and the Gilbert Islands to put satellites in orbit."

Matt, Courtney, and the others looked at him like he sprouted a second head. Ben chuckled.

"Yes, are quite accomplished at rocketry and we have two space stations in orbit and a base on Earth 2's Moon. We intend to do the same thing here too with your permission of course. And a long term goal will be to terraform Venus and now there are two."

"How?" Courtney asked in a ragged voice.

"From what I've read they want to use comet heads from the Oort cloud and drop them on Venus."

"Oh my!" Courtney exclaimed.

"Anyway that's something which won't happen for a hundred years or so," Ben said and smiled at looked on the human's faces. "First, we need to help you finish these wars."

"Why are you helping us?"

"Two reasons," Ben said holding up two fingers. "We rather fight with you now that you have a base we can fight from than wait until you might be defeated and have to fight from just Easter Island." Now Ben smiled. "Earth 2 is basically now one large Rabbit Burrow and farms with about 50 large cities. You wouldn't believe what 7 billion Rabbits can do in ten years. At least now they have their population under control. Earth 3 is basically an under populated planet."

"You want to settle some of your people here," Matt said.

"About 3 billion or so," Ben confirmed. "With the Rabbits here no one on this planet will ever starve. The other thing we can provide is technology in medicine, computers, mechanical engineering, aeronautics, space travel, etc. This plane could fly from here across the Pacific Ocean to North America in just a bit over ten hours. There is one I myself want to help you do regardless of what is decided. Your people told us that your wife is being held hostage. How would like to get her back, take Zanzibar, capture Kurokawa, and not lose a single person doing it.

* * *

Much as Matthew Reddy was on Madagascar the humans and their Lemurian allies in Manila, Hawaii, and Diego Garcia were amazed by the massive aircraft when landed vertically on the ridiculously small prepare runway. Even as the runways were being built more of the large cargo aircraft were being flown in. They delivered all the pieces and parts to build a modern military airbase. Within only two weeks all three runways were extended to 12,000 feet and the next day the dozens heavy bombers began to land.

* * *

General of the Sea Kurokawa awoke and tried to move. He soon found in was in a small room and seated in a chair that was bolted to the floor. He himself was in chains which were also bolted to the floor. After struggling himself to exhaustion a U.S. Naval officer and bipedal Cheetah entered the room. He suspected the naval officer was Matthew Reddy and the Cheetah must be a new race from this infernal planet.

"I demand…"

Matthew Reddy laughed until Kurokawa saw tears in his eyes. The Cheetah only smiled.

"He really is insane," the Cheetah said and the human laughed harder.

"Oh God!" Matt said and wiped his eyes. "I needed that. I haven't laughed that hard in years." Matt turned to Kurokawa. "I've been waiting for two years to meet you exactly like this – helpless and in chains."

"You …"

Matt had Kurokawa by the throat a moment later.

"Matt, don't you want to tell him what happened on Zanzibar?"

Kurokawa felt the pressure ease on his throat and after his vision cleared the Cheetah squatted before him. It held up a hand and expressed his claws. Then it reached for his throat and Kurokawa felt the claw tips just brush his skin. He gave a strangled cry and the Cheetah smiled and stepped back.

"Well Kurokawa Zanzibar is in our hands intact and we didn't lose one person doing it."

"That's impossible!"

"Unless you can put the entire island to sleep."

"How?"

"I'm from another Earth where it's the year 2020," the Cheetah said, "and we have technology you wouldn't believe. The simple answer is nerve gas. We put you all to sleep, flew in troops, gathered all the humans we could find, and then gassed it again. Then once Captain Reddy's ships arrived a week later we simply woke all the sleeping Grik. They turned out to be wonderfully compliant once they realized they were surrounded without their weapons. We had some our Grik talk to them and as long as they are treated well and fed they'll work for us. Simply to say you were just one small pebble we just shook out of our shoe."

Kurokawa's face turned purple with rage.

"Wait till you try to take on the Grik on the continent."

"They're another small pebble that will soon be removed in about …"

"Eight hours," Ben said and smiled.

"That's impossible!"

"As I said before we have technology you wouldn't believe."

Captain Reddy grinned.

* * *

Matt looked out the window at the formation of bombers their plane trailed. He still found it hard to believe that they were flying 700 miles per hour at 55,000 feet.

"We are now passing back over Madagascar," Ben said pointing to the flat screen TV mounted on the wall. "At home we would have to Global Positioning Satellites to guide us, but here we're using a map of the Earth system. This Earth is close enough to Earth 2 that we can get away with it."

"All this was just abandoned on your Earth."

"The plague had been going on about six months when the portal was discovered by Nick, Judy, and Maria. Once the portal was found by our military they just started crossing in force and they already knew about the asteroid. They only had 18 months to move our entire civilization to Earth 2. So we brought everything with us and really wasn't any choice since our planet was going to be unlivable anyway. A lot of things were destroyed on Earth 2, but a lot wasn't. These planes were simply abandon on their airfields in their revetments and so we were able to bring them back to being flight worthy. Also, we brought our own military planes and we are building new ones too."

"You took a big chance."

"We rolled the dice and got lucky."

Sandra and Beth returned from the galley with supper and drinks. Ben and Matt stood allowing them put it on the table and their respective mates sat themselves and then their respective mates joined them.

"This plane has all the comforts of home," Sandra said and smiled. "There's a kitchen, cabins, bathrooms, this conference/dining room."

"Are you feeling OK?" Matt asked just a bit worried. "I still don't think you …"

"Matthew Reddy," she began and he winced, "I'm pregnant not an invalid. We also have a doctor on board."

Matt looked at the large Wolf at the other table.

"I checked her when you came aboard and she doing fine," he said and smiled. "The only thing she need to is gain some of weight back. My only order to her is eat!"

Matt smiled and put an arm around her and she put her head on her shoulder. Beth smiled and leaned against her Cheetah.

"Well we better eat it before it gets cold," Sandra said and started on her Tuna.

The others had steaks and a selection of vegetables.

"Beth, can I ask you a personal question?" Sandra said.

"Of course."

"About you and Ben."

"He was fairly tame when I meet him," she said and looked at her Cheetah. "He only bit me once." Ben rolled his eyes and Beth pulled her blouse over showing the scar on her neck. "We are now of one body, one mind, and one soul. I am now your mate for life bonded by blood."

"We are now of one body, one mind, and one soul. I am now your mate for life bonded by blood," he said and licked her scar. "That oath of my people is older than living memory."

When they finished supper the lead bombers were crossing the African coast near the mouth of the Zambezi River.

* * *

Esshk was more than a little surprised to hear massive explosions while it was it was still daylight. He rushed outside just in time to see a massive explosion less than a mile away in Old Sofesshk and then another. The third one knocked him off his feet.

The next one tore the air from his lungs and then his lungs from his body. The one after that vaporized The Palace of the Vanished Gods. By the time the plane carrying Matthew Reddy flew over the city of Sofesshk – both old and new – and all the Grik in them was being consumed by a firestorm.

* * *

Courtney Bradford was on the south bank of the Ungee River with the Army of the Republic watching the Grik army gathering on the other side. They weren't standing on the riverbank, but everyone had moved back about a half a mile behind hastily dug earthworks. He looked at his watch and at exactly 5pm the entire army dropped to the ground. Massive explosions set everything on the north side afire for miles up and downstream. After ten minutes the explosions stopped. Courtney was first up over the earthworks and then wished he hadn't as his clothes began to smolder. He quickly dropped back and began to beat on his clothes. One of the Cats dumped a canteen on him before they actually ignited.

"You can feel the heat. We need to keep everyone behind these earthworks for several hours at least," he said and looked at General Kim. "It's going be a few days before we can advance and cross the river."

"What did you see?"

"Hell on Earth!"

* * *

A week later a face to face meeting was held on Easter Island. Since the war in the East was for all practical purposes over all the principals involved could be present. Even the Grik General Halik was convinced to come after a demonstration of the weapons used on Sofesshk and then a flyover of the remains of the city.

"I'm glad you all could come today," Ben said and smiled. "After this meeting we will take you across to Earth 2."

"And Earth 1," Kaiser Nig-Taak said.

"We came from that world before it was rendered inhabitable by a nickel iron asteroid 5 miles wide," Ben explained. "Earth 2 was struck by one about that size about 65 million years ago according to the humans and our own studies. Apparently Earth 3 either was struck by a smaller one or not at all. We would need to look for craters once the other war is over and the League of Tripoli is dealt with. After we dealt with the walkers our first priority was our space program. We don't want same thing to happen to our new home or this planet either."

"I've seen what you did to Sofesshk," General Halik said. "Could you explain about the weapons used."

"Those bombs were thermobaric," Ben said seeing incomprehension on his listener's faces. "It is a fuel-air bomb. As it nears the ground is disperses a fine mist of fuel into the air and then detonates. The resulting explosion actually sets the air on fire and the resulting fire storm creates its own winds. It's only extinguished when its fuel is exhausted. The yield of these weapons is approximately 100 tons of TNT. We only dropped 50 of them on the city." He saw the stunned looks on their faces. "We have weapons far more powerful than this."

"Fission bombs?" Courtney asked.

"And fusion bombs too," Ben said.

"Oh my word!" Courtney exclaimed. "You actually tested them."

"The humans had on Earth 2 in the past and we have in space to test moving asteroids."

"Courtney?" Matt said.

"I've read a theoretical paper on fission weapons," he said looking ashen. "Using an isotope of uranium and having it reach a critical mass it will explode."

"The amount of energy released by fission bombs can range from the equivalent of just under a ton to upwards of 500,000 tons of TNT," Ben said remembering what he read on the subject. "Also, the metal plutonium can be used. A fusion bomb uses a fission bomb as a trigger. At the core of the plutonium the isotopes of hydrogen – deuterium and tritium – are placed. When the fission core detonates the hydrogen isotopes are compressed and fusion occurs much as it does at the core of a star. The largest fusion bomb the human built and detonated was 50 megatons."

"50 million tons of TNT," Courtney said awed.

Ben searched on the internet and found the correct website. The screen descended and room darkened.

"This is first fission bomb test on July 16, 1945, in the desert north of Alamogordo, New Mexico."

The screen showed the desert for a moment and picture flashed white. A few moments later it showed the distinctive mushroom cloud.

"This bomb used plutonium and was the equivalent to 19 kilotons of TNT," Ben said, "This is the largest fusion bomb." The movie played much as the other, but everyone could tell the explosion was much larger. "That fireball was five miles across."

"How many do you have?" Courtney asked.

"We found 4,287 since we have arrived," Ben said reading from his tablet. "Most have been move to the Moon."

"Most," Matt said.

"We've kept several dozen which were mounted on rockets at a ready state."

"We've spoken and find it interesting how ready you were for this," Matt said and started at Ben.

"I was wondering when you'd ask me about that," Ben said and smiled. "Actually we're been preparing for this day almost since we arrived on Earth 2. We thought if there was one portal there was the possibility there might be another. We've nine billion animals to protect. If was just been the Grik we would have defeated them and simply taken over this planet." He looked at an unhappy looking General Halik and shrugged. "But you and the Lemurians are here. You have a sense of honor and we feel we can trust you, but you haven't explored this planet. Who knows what's out there on this one or any of the other myriad versions of Earth."


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Zootopia or any of it characters, they all belong to Disney. I do not own The Walking Dead or any of its characters, they all belong to AMC and Robert Kirkman. I do not own Destroyermen or any of its characters, they all belong to Taylor Anderson.**

Escape from Hell?

Chapter 2

Matthew Reddy watched as the second aircraft carrier settled into the bay. That ship simply dwarfed the aircraft carriers from his old Earth and they both would carry jet fighters. Beside the aircraft carriers the two battle groups contained cruisers, battleships, submarines, destroyers, troop ships, and the other auxiliary ships needed to keep them running. For the last day their crews – animals and humans – either came walking or riding in trucks through the portal. Toward the end of the precession came an open truck loaded with what looked musical instruments and a stage. Riding in the second truck were four bipedal tigers, two Gazelles, and two humans. They stopped and a man jump down from the truck.

"Do ya know where we're supposta setup?"

"Well, actually no," Matt said, looking at the two trucks again. "Who are you?"

"Daryl Dixon," he said and held out a hand.

"Matt Reddy," he said, taking the proffered hand and then smiling. "So you're here to entertain the troops?"

Daryl chuckled and the Gazelles and the woman joined them. The taller Gazelle put her hands on her hips and gave him the eye. The other Gazelle stood a bit behind her sister.

"Captain Reddy!"

Matt turned and saw Courtney Bradford hurrying back up the beach. He stopped and stared at the tableau.

"You're a Thompson's Gazelle!" Courtney said and moved closer.

"Ya know, you're the first human to tell me that," Maria said, looking at the human straight faced.

Daryl laughed first and then was soon joined by Michonne. First Courtney looked at the two humans and then back at the Gazelle. She smiled at him and then chuckled. Courtney turned red and looked at Matt who was trying his best not laugh too.

"So Mr. Bradford, did you need something?"

"I wanted to know if you could ask to see if I could examine some of the animals," he said and looked at Maria and the Tigers. "I'd like to compare them to the animals we have back home."

Maria cocked her hip and smiled.

"Just where would you like to start?"

Courtney's blush deepened.

"Madam, you are …"

"Impertinent?"

"Why yes!" he said and then stared at her.

He started to laugh. Later he wiped the tears from his eyes and then looked back at the Gazelle.

"I'm sorry," he said in Spanish, "I don't know where my manners went. My name is Courtney Bradford."

"You speak my language!" Maria said in her native tongue. "How did you know?"

"You have just a bit of an accent."

Maria laughed and then extended a hand.

"Maria Dixon," she said and he took it. "Pleased to meet you."

"Likewise," he said and unconsciously began to study her hand. "Three fingers."

Maria looked at Matt and then her husband and his wife. Then she smiled and looked back at Courtney.

"Mr. Bradford, all Gazelles have three fingers."

"Ah yes, Gazelles have a split hoof and the third finger would …" He touched the two longer fingers and then the shorter one. "It would have come from the bump on the back of the foot." He looked up at her. "Are your feet the same?"

"Yes, Mr. Bradford," she said and looked at Daryl. "In fact after we set up, I'll let you examine me and my Tigers if they don't mind." She put an arm around him and led him toward the trucks. "Maybe you'd like to give us a hand."

* * *

Matt looked at the enormous floating dry dock as it came into view. Both his ship, the USS Walker, and the USS Mahan had arrived a day earlier and where immediately taken aboard to be upgraded to twenty-first century standards. He himself had told them that for all practical purposes that it was really wasn't worth the time and effort, but they insisted. So he was here to see what they had in mind and what they had done so far.

As soon as his boat docked he was piped aboard. He was met by the dry dock's captain.

"Captain Reddy," she said and shook his hand. "Captain Elizabeth Hirsch at your service. Welcome aboard sir."

"Thank you," Matt said and smiled at the Deer.

"I'd guess you'd like to see your ships."

"Yes," he said and looked passed her at the dry dock, "and afterward I'd like to take a look at your ship."

"I'll give you the tour myself."

"I wouldn't want to be takin' you away from anything."

"It's no problem."

"How are the crews getting along?"

"Just fine," the Deer said and laughed. "You should have been here for the party we had last night." Matt raised an eyebrow. "Don't worry everyone behaved themselves … mostly."

The Deer winked.

Matt followed her along with several others to the two ships. Work had already begun with the removal of the some of the hull plates to replace the engines on both ships. The first of the deck guns were also in the process of being removed with cables running to cranes above each ship. Matt and the others entered the engine room through the open hull and made their way to the bridge.

"Captain on the bridge!"

"At ease," Matt announced, returning his XO's salute. "How's it goin', Lieutenant McFarlane?"

"Very well sir," he said and smiled. "They're just getting started, but we should be ready to go in no time."

"We estimate about two months," Captain Hirsch said.

"Sounds good," Matt said and turned back to his XO. "Lieutenant, please have the crews of both ships assemble on the dry dock's deck between the two ships after lunch."

"Yes, sir," the XO said.

In that hour Captain Hirsch gave Matt the promised tour. He was especially interested in the computerized fire control system that would be installed on the two ships. It would not only be directing the ships new larger main guns, but missiles – offensive and defensive, torpedoes guided by wire, and new engines which would give the ships a top speed of over forty knots! It really did remind him of the stories he'd read in Astounding years ago. He was thoroughly impressed with the technology and changes being made to the ships.

He had lunch with the combined crews of all three ships in the dry dock's mess hall. The crews mixed together like they had been doing it for years. After lunch the crews just sat around and talked. At least they did until Dennis Silva challenged a Tigress to arm wrestling. A crowd immediately gathered and the competitors clasped hands. This caused the Tigress to express her claws slightly and Dennis to feel them prick his skin. The Tigress smiled showing a great many teeth and Dennis let go. Then he shook his hand like he's been hurt and the crowd laughed. She held out her hand again and he squeezed one of her fingers fully expressing a long curved claw. He raised an eyebrow and then they clasped hands again, but this time she kept her claws sheathed. The struggle lasted about ten minutes, but gradually she wore him down and in the end his knuckles touched the table. She smiled, stood, and walked around the table. Dennis stood with Larry beside him and lifted his chin. She lightly cuffed him and then pulled him into a hug.

"Dennis, it looks like you've made a friend," Captain Reddy said and smiled.

"I suppose so Captain."

"After the meeting I'd like to talk to you and Lawrence."

"Yes, sir," Lawrence said.

As the crews filed out Matt watched Dennis and the Tigress walk out of the mess hall with her arm around him. He shook his head.

* * *

Matt waited as the crews of the two ships gathered and then came to attention.

"Gentlemen, we're goin' on a cruise to Hawaii," he said and saw the assembled crews grin. "During those twelve days most of us will be going to school to learn how operate our newly improved ships." The crews winced. "You will attend class eight hour a day and you will be excused from all other duties." They grinned again. "But you have to do a bit of studying after classes too, but rest of them time will be yours. Some of you will be on special assignment." He looked pointedly at Dennis, Lawrence, and several others. "So get all your stuff packed and be back here in an hour. Also, tonight I have been informed there will be a concert on the island and we're all invited."

A cheer rose from the assembled crews and then they were dismissed. Mostly on time they returned and boarded boats to the island. Matt waited for Dennis, Lawrence, and several other men and cats he'd spoken to earlier.

"Captain, what's goin' on?" Dennis asked first as Matt knew he would.

"Well you men are going to be on escort duty and a bit of training," Matt announced and smiled at his men.

"What about the rest of us?" Lawrence asked.

Matt rolled his eyes and everyone chuckled.

"Larry, he meant all of us," Dennis said.

"Men," Matt said and looked at Larry. "Go on ahead. I need to speak to Mr. Silva."

They trailed the 'men' just out of earshot.

"Dennis, I've spoken to our new allies and I don't want to get your hopes up," Matt said and the other man looked at his Captain. "Their medicine is much more advanced than ours." Dennis raised an eyebrow. "I told them about your eye and they want to have a look at it."

"Captain, I…"

"Do you want them to …"

"Yes, Captain!" he said and then shook his Captain's hand.

Matt smiled and they soon caught up with the others.

* * *

They filed out of the trucks in front of one of the newly constructed buildings by the airfield. Dennis watched one of the new planes take off and wondered how they flew without propellers. He'd have to ask Mr. Bradford. Then he turned and reached for the doorknob. Then it opened and an animal bumped into him. He put an arm on her side to steady her.

"Sorry," he said and cocked his head. "Are you a Deer?"

She looked at him and blushed.

"No, I am a Gazelle," she said in a quiet voice and looked at the ground.

"Sorry ma'am, I haven't seen any others like you," he said. "I'm Dennis Silva."

"Alejandra Gazelle," she said and glanced into his eyes for a moment. "Nice to meet you." She smiled a little and her eyes flicked back up. Then he felt the eyes of the Captain Reddy and other men on his back. "Are you looking for my sister?"

Matt joined them and the Gazelle took a step back.

"Your sister?" Dennis asked.

"Yes, Maria – she's givin' the concert tonight."

"It's good to see you again, Miss Gazelle," Matt said and the young Gazelle's ear turned pink. "We're looking for Major General Clawhauser."

"Oh Ben!" she said and she looked up again. "He's upstairs. Come on and I'll show you."

She turned and another Gazelle stepped through the door. She stopped, looked at the new comers, and put her hands on her hips.

"Captain Reddy," she said and smiled. Then she looked at her sister who'd backed into Dennis. "So what have you been up to?"

Maria looked at the tall human who'd just successfully dodged her sister's sharp horns.

"Dennis … I mean they want to see Ben," she said, feeling Dennis' hard body against hers.

Her blush deepened.

"OK," Maria said and looked back at Matt. "Everyone's gathering in the large conference room. So he'll probably be there soon."

They followed the two Gazelles through the building and joined the group of animals waiting for Ben. For a few seconds the two groups just stared at each other.

"Captain Reddy," Ben said entering the room. "Good to see you and your people here. So let's get started. Everyone have a seat."

The room was large, but with the number of animals, humans, cats, and Lawrence there were only a few extra seats. Matt watched as they tried to sit in their original groups.

"Come on people just sit," Matt said and sat next to Judy. "They aren't going to bite."

He heard the Rabbit giggle and then turned to her.

"Matt," Judy said and extended a hand. "Good to see you again. Where's Sandra?"

"She's aboard one of the aircraft carriers getting' things ready," he said and sighed. "She's Minister of Medicine so she's always busy."

"Nick, how you doin'?" he asked and shook the Fox's hand.

"As long as I'm with my bunny I'm doin' fine," he said, then smiled, and hugged her.

Matt couldn't help but to smile also.

Ben sat and watched the interplay between the two groups and just let it go on for a while. They were going to have to work together and so he thought they might as well get to know each other sooner than later. Matt had told him about the people he was going to assign to work with the group of animals and humans he'd assembled. He watched a large human and his reptilian companion – from Matt's description this must be Dennis Silva and Lawrence – talking to Maria, Michonne, Daryl, and Alejandra. Matt was talking with his oldest friends – Judy and Nick. The cats – he had to smile – and other humans were talking to their animal counterparts too.

"Ben."

He turned and saw four more old friends coming through the door.

"Rick, good, ya made it!" he said and took his hand. "Lori, Carl, Sophia good to see you too."

He shook Carl's hand and hugged the Lori and then Sophia. She lingered in his arms and reached around to scratch between his shoulder blades. Then his purr began and all conversation stopped. Everyone turned to watch them.

"So just why is it every time I find you you're in the arms of a human female and just purring away?" Beth asked, coming through the door.

"Animal magnetism," Sophia suggested and smiled.

Ben thought it was Judy's laughter that started it, but soon the entire room was lost in mirth.

"God, I needed that!" Ben said later and wiped tears from his eyes. "First, thanks for coming." He looked around the room and saw the expectant faces. "So I guessing you're wondering why you're all here. Currently we've got two major problems on this Earth that we must take care of before we can start our colonization – the Holy Dominion and the League of Tripoli. The Allied armies from this Earth and ours from Earth 2 will first take on the Holy Dominion. Starting tomorrow the first half million troops will start coming through the portal. Some will be flown or on the troop ships directly to the California, others to Hawaii, some will join General Shinya Army, and the rest will be keep the doms busy along the coast.

After that a follow on force of one hundred thousand more troops along with a large number of scientists will land near the Zambezi River and join the Army of the Republic of Real People to explore and study Africa. You'll be going with them, but your assignment will be to study the League of Tripoli.

"Study," Judy said and smiled coyly.

"I think he means spy," Nick said and chuckles came from around the table.

* * *

Maria took a peek at the crowd from back stage and smiled. She leaned back and Daryl wrapped his arms around her. She felt his hard body press against hers and sighed. Then his hand started to rub her belly and a few seconds later moved lower. She caught it and moved it back to when it had been. She leaned her head back and rested it on his shoulder.

"Later," she said and licked his cheek.

He chuckled and then released her.

"Go on," he said and patted her flank, "get out there and givem a show they won't soon forget!"

She turned, kissed him, and then hurried to the platform. She smelled Tiger before she got there and smiled.

"You boys ready?" she asked, stepping into their midst.

They grunted and loomed over her. She laughed and casually cuffed the one closest. He chuckled and they got into position.

"Ready in 5 … 4 … 3 … 2 … 1," the stage manager said and then the platform began to rise.

Maria stepped forward and raised her arms. The crowd roared and her Tigers took their positions. The large screens setup behind and to the side of her came on with her image.

"Good Evening Easter Island!"

The crowd roared again and she began to sing her most popular song – Try Everything. That song only lasted just a bit under four minutes, but in that short time she gained a world of new fans. When the song ended the cheering and clapping went on for a full five minutes. When they quieted she sat on a hastily provided stool.

"So I guess you liked my song," she said and the crowd erupted again. "Thank you! Thank you!" She smiled and took a few bows. "Since some of you don't know me I thought I'd tell you a bit about myself. I'm Maria Dixon and I'm a Gazelle. I have a Masters degree in Mechanical Engineering from Zootopia University." She saw a multitude of surprised faces in the audience and smiled. "Also, I like to sing, but I guess you musta figured that out." She stood and spun around. There were whistles and hoots. Maria Laughed. "You wouldn't want to make my husband jealous, would you?" There were laughter and a few boos from the audience. "Now let me introduce you to my boys." She indicated the Tigers and they moved closer. "Mike, Joe, William, and Edward." She touched each of them in turn. "My next song will be a duet." Another Gazelle walk into the stage and stood by Maria. "This is my sister Alejandra."

For the next three hours Maria sang in duet with her sister, other animals and humans, or solo with short breaks each hour. The audience was simply entranced. For her last song Maria picked an old human favorite.

"This'll be my last song tonight." She sat on the stool as the stage darkened with only one light left shining on her. "This is an old human song and I hope you enjoy it." She sang A capella and it was glorious.

Alas my love you do me wrong

To cast me off discourteously;

And I have loved you oh so long

Delighting in your company.

Greensleeves was my delight,

Greensleeves my heart of gold

Greensleeves was my heart of joy

And who but my lady Greensleeves.

I have been ready at your hand

To grant whatever thou would'st crave;

I have waged both life and land

Your love and goodwill for to have.

Greensleeves was my delight,

Greensleeves my heart of gold

Greensleeves was my heart of joy

And who but my lady Greensleeves.

Thy petticoat of slender white

With gold embroidered gorgeously;

Thy petticoat of silk and white

And these I bought gladly.

Greensleeves was my delight,

Greensleeves my heart of gold

Greensleeves was my heart of joy

And who but my lady Greensleeves.

Halfway through the song she felt tears come to her eyes and by the end her cheeks were wet. Then she stood, wiped at the tears, waved, and left the stage. For a moment it was quiet and then the clapping and chanting started.

"Gazelle … Gazelle … Gazelle … Gazelle … Gazelle … Gazelle … Gazelle … Gazelle … Gazelle … Gazelle … Gazelle."

She and all the others returned and took only one final bow.

* * *

Although the war with the Grik near Sofesshk and the surrounding area was for all practical purposes over they were still rounding up survivors around the wrecked city. There had been a bit of fighting along the coast as the Alliance advanced south from Zanzibar and a part of the combined armies of the Republic of Real People and Earth 2 came north from Sofesshk. The Grik were soon overwhelmed by their superior firepower of the combined armies and then they began to push into the interior of the African Continent via the Zambezi River. No one knew how far the Grik had penetrated into the interior of the continent or what else they might find as they advanced. An airport was built on the outskirts of Sofesshk and reconnaissance aircraft were brought in.

It was then decided to accelerate and expand the exploration of the continent. So over the next few months an additional 200,000 troops were brought from Earth 2 and landed in the Republic of Real People. They began pushing up the west coast of Africa and directly north into the continent's interior. As the armies pushed forward a network of airbases were constructed giving the troops an advanced warning of what was ahead of them. Roads were also constructed behind the advancing troops to keep them supplied and for an easier route back if necessary.

Judy looked out and saw the airport below as the plane slowed. Then she heard the landing gear lower and they slowly began to float down. There was only a slight pump as they touched the ground and then the engines spooled down. Judy released the breath she unknowingly held and heard her Fox chuckled. She looked at him and he leaned closer and kissed her. As always the kiss lingered and became more passionate.

"Ya know these planes do have cabins," Maria said from her seat behind them.

Judy felt her ears grow warm and her Fox chuckled, ending their kiss.

"So that's where you two went for your nap," Alejandra said and smiled. "After lunch Daryl and Maria said they were a bit tired and wanted to rest. They do take a lot of naps when we're on the road. Sometimes Michonne stayed with me and other times Maria does."

Nick first looked at Maria and grinned. Then he looked at Daryl and Michonne and raised an eyebrow. Maria's ears turned pink and Nick chuckled. Judy buried her face in her Fox's chest fur and shook with mirth. Soon they heard heavy boots thumping from the back of the plane and Dennis Sylva and Courtney Bradford stopped and stared at them.

"Colonel Wilde," Mr. Bradford said and smiled. "I really enjoyed the flight, but I think we do have a schedule to keep."

Judy looked up still chuckling.

"Mr. Bradford, when you're right you're right," she said and looked at the others. "Come on everyone let's get movin'!"

They filed off the plane and were soon met by trucks to carry them to the new base of operations for the African theater.

* * *

After General Halik had completed his conquest of the Regency of Persia he moved into the Middle East always trailed by the ever-present Czech Dalibor Svec and his Brotherhood of Volunteers. The Alliance landed troops from India in what would be present day Oman with the help of their Earth 2 allies providing personnel, aircraft, landing craft, tanks, helicopters, and APCs. The local Grik were quickly overwhelmed and two months later they met General Halik's army in Palestine.

"Captain Reddy, General Clawhauser, I thought you'd be across the great ocean fighting the Doms," General Halik said and then looked at Dalibor Svec. "So my shadow is here too."

The Czech only eyed the Grik with contempt showing on his face.

"We are and we will be," Ben said and smiled, showing all his teeth.

The Grik laughed.

"We came to you about crossing into Africa," Matt said and produced a map of the Middle East, Europe, and Africa. "We'd think that for now we'd rather not bother the League of Tripoli just quite yet."

"It's never wise to fight two wars at the same time," General Halik said, looking at the map, "and explore a continent too."

"Oh we could," Ben said, "but we'd rather not have to obliterate them just yet."

"I suppose," he said, remembering the demonstrations and movies of the weapons they had available. "You did obliterate the Grik at Sofesshk."

"They were a danger to everyone," Ben said knowingly, "yourself included."

"I agree," General Halik said, nodding.

"We've been taking some prisoners and we'd like to give them to you."

Dalibor grunted.

"Some of the Grik are females."

"We have found some females here too, but …"

"We do have more detail maps of the Middle East and lands further north."

General Halik studied his 'allies' and then came to a decision.

"Your army will accompany mine."

"Yes," Ben said and nodded. "We will supply more equipment too."

"And Dalibor will come along too, of course."

"Yes," Dalibor said like it left a bad taste in his mouth.

"I accept."

* * *

General Shinya's troops had found two dozen flat spots of the correct size in the surrounding area and cleared the brush. He was kind of surprised they had found that many in these mountains. To say he was surprised when he'd been informed of the events on Easter Island was an understatement. Of course he was grateful for any new troops that would bolster his army. It was an hour later that heard was roar from the West. Twenty four enormous aircraft flew over his headquarters in Popayan and flew to the landing areas where he ordered the signal fires to be lit earlier.

Three of the planes landed nearby and he, Sister Audry, Governor-General Rebecca Anne McDonald, and Sann-Kakja along with their escorts made their way to nearest of them. By the time they'd arrived troops in some sort of full body armor had formed into ranks. In the distance he heard several of the aircraft lifting off while others landed.

"General Shinya!" came a familiar voice.

"Captain Reddy!" he said as he saw his friend and a bipedal Cheetah walking down the aircraft's ramp.

His eye widened and he saw the Cheetah smile. It was one thing to be told about the intelligent animals from an alternate Earth, but it was quite another to actually see one. He shook Captain Reddy's hand and then just looked at the Cheetah's extended hand. The seven foot, broad shouldered Cheetah chuckled and General Shinya took his hand and shook. He felt its pads and fur and then just the tips of the claws.

"Major General Benjamin Clawhauser," he said and smiled. "Don't worry I don't bite."

General Shinya looked up at him and then chuckled. Then Ben looked over the humans and cats and his eyes settled on the youngest one in the group. She blushed.

"Governor-General Rebecca Anne McDonald," she said and smiled up at the beautiful Cheetah.

"My Lady," he said, going down on one knee and holding out a hand. She giggled and took it. "We can talk later if you'd like.

"Of course," she said and her blush deepened.

Then he stood looked back to General Shinya.

"Over the next few days 20,000 troops will be delivered here along with tanks, armored personnel carriers, and supplies. Also, aircraft will be scouting ahead to direct our advance."

"20,000!" General Shinya exclaimed.

"And you are going after this army," Ben stated.

"Yes, we are," General Shinya said and looked at the others. "We have discussed this and we will attack the Pass of Fire along with a landing by sea. We have found whoever has taken over for Don Hernann is quite skilled."

"With the two battle groups we're brought from Earth 2 we will make landings all along the coast of the Nuevo Granada province," Ben said and looked at Matt, "and conduct air raids too."

"Those landings will tie down the bulk of their army," Matt said and smiled. "Also, as we speak troops from Earth 2 and Empire of New Britain Isles are currently being airlifted into California. With these troops and ones stationed in California they will move south and coordinate with us an attack on the Pass of Fire."

"We can discuss this in more detail while we have lunch," Ben said and led the group onto the plane.

* * *

The populace of New Britain Island watched as the airport outside of New London was expanded and the new unfamiliar aircraft arrived and departed. They were familiar with the Lemurians who had fought alongside their own troops and the Americans when the Doms tried to conquer the New Britain Isles. Now along with the Lemurians intelligent animals also came into their city on liberty. The first time this happened the city militia was called out only to find bipedal, English-speaking, and well behaved animals – specifically three Tigers, four Foxes, Twelve Rabbits, and Cheetah.

"I think someone forgot to tell them," the Lemurian named Stripes said, looking at the nervous militiamen. "Blacky and I will go talk to them."

The Lemurians approached the humans like they hadn't a care in the world. Since stripes knew the rank insignia of the Militia and went directly to the officer in charge.

"Captain," Stripes said and the human only then looked at him, "is there a problem?"

"We had reports of wild animals in the city," he said and looked at the animals.

Stripes chuckled.

"We haven't seen any," Blacky said straight faced, "but if we do we'll let you know."

The Captain looked at Blacky with an annoyed expression and then sighed.

"These are our new allies," Stripes said indicating the animals. "They found us on Easter Island and they helped us end the war in the east. Come and I'll introduce you."

With the arrival of the militia the citizens had come back out to watch.

"Bunny!" came a high pitched voice.

"Mary!" the child's mother said.

A five year old girl had slipped away from her mother and ran toward the animals. The child ran passed the other animals and straight into the arms of a Rabbit. The doe staggered back a few steps and looked at the child surprised. Mary hugged the doe and after a moment she returned it. The other animals looked on and smiled. The child's mother took a wide berth around the Tigers and Foxes and came to a stop anxiously before the group of Rabbits.

"Mary," her mother's said and looked at the Rabbit, "we should be getting home now."

"Can I keep this bunny?"

The doe chuckled and the two Lemurians and the Captain joined them.

"Maybe my husband and I can walk home with you," the Rabbit said and smiled at the child's mother.

"You can talk!" Mary cried.

"We all can talk," the buck said.

With the situation seemingly defused more people came closer and soon mingled with the animals. As the days passed larger number of the intelligent animals came into the city. They had money to spend which made merchants happy, caused little trouble which made the city militia and police very happy, and brought advances in technology and medicine which made life better for citizens of the Empire. All in all the government of the Empire felt they were getting the better part of the exchange.

* * *

Judy was bone tried and crawled into bed with her Fox. She yawned and he pulled her close. Then he nibbled on her ear and she giggled.

"Are you excited about tomorrow?" she asked and turned to face him.

"Training and trailing behind the army was boring," he said and sighed.

"It was, wasn't it," she said and chuckled.

Then she yawned again.

"The only Grik we saw were prisoners!"

"Did you think we should've been up fighting with the army?"

He looked at his bunny and touched her face.

"No, I wouldn't want to risk you."

She smiled at her Fox.

"Or you either," she said and grinned. "At least tomorrow we go to start our real mission."

He smiled and kissed his bunny.

"Good night," he said and closed his eyes.

She smiled and closed her eyes too. After a few minute they both fell asleep in each other's arms.

* * *

Judy woke first and felt her Fox's warmth. She snuggled closer and listened to his slow and steady breathing. Then she looked passed his shoulder and saw that it almost time to get up. She sighed.

"Nick," she said and he moaned, "time to get up!"

He inhaled sharply and said, "Judy?"

"Did expect another Rabbit to be in bed with you?"

He opened his eyes, raised an eyebrow, and smiled.

"Well no, not really," he said and then licked her throat.

"Nick, stop that!" she said and giggled. "We need to get up and get really!"

Then the alarm went off and he laughed.

"When you're right you're right," he said and threw off the covers. "Race you to the bathroom!"

She won and got to the shower first.

"I could wash your back," he said and smiled.

"Yea and then it would take twice as long."

Her Fox chuckled.

"I could brush out you fur."

"And I could brush out yours too."

"Deal," he said and smiled.

They just barely made it to the plane on time.

"Oversleep," Maria said and grinned.

"No, the alarm went off right on time," Nick said and looked at his bunny.

Judy elbowed him in the side and Maria and Daryl chuckled. Nick took their bags to the lower deck and gave them to the cargo master. Then returned and took the seat beside his bunny.

"Everyone, get strapped in and we'll be lifting in five minutes," the pilot announced.

They heard the engines rumble to life and felt the plane lift. Nick took her hand and gave it a little squeeze. She looked out the window and closed her eyes. Then she put her head on her Fox's shoulder. As the plane rose it started to move forward and ten minutes later it was cursing at 700 miles per hour at 55,000 feet. Judy looked out the window and sighed.

"OK?" he asked.

"Yes," she said and looked out the window again. "Planes should not take off straight up!"

"I suppose not," he said. "We missed breakfast. Do you want me to get you something?"

"Sure."

He came back with a salad and tea for his bunny and eggs, bacon, toast, and orange juice for himself. They finished and Nick took back the dishes.

"They are showing some movies down on the cargo deck," he said and touched her arm. "Would you like to go? They have popcorn too. It'll be just like movie night back in your apartment."

"It won't be quite the same," she said coyly and leaned over to kiss his cheek. Nick chuckled, remembering. "Let's go."

"Daryl, Maria, and her bunch are going too," he said and took her hand.

The flight was over ten hours and the movies made the time fly by. The last movie was from Zootopia, which the humans had come to call the intelligent animals original Earth, was everyone's favorite since Maria starred. She played the prostitute that the Son of God saved and then became his devoted follower. To say the humans who lived on Earth 3 were surprised was like saying hell was a bit warm. As soon as the credits rolled a dozen conversations began. From the discussions those humans soon found that the same thing had occurred on at least three different versions of Earth.

"We will be landing in ten minutes," the pilot announced.

* * *

They landed in the middle of the continent about 500 miles south of the Mediterranean Sea. This new base was part of a string of five which stretched across northern Africa. Unlike the version they came from the Sahara Desert did not exist on the version of Earth. Northern Africa was either evergreen forests or open grassland. It was theorized that this was caused by the ice age that was presently occurring on this planet. As they traveled to the base Judy noticed that it was built on the highest point of land in the surrounding area. She saw the tall radar tower rising above the middle of the base and it would with orbiting drones give coverage to the Mediterranean Sea and beyond.

Judy knew that within a few days the first small satellites would be placed into orbit. These would be initially launched from high flying aircraft and majority would be used to study the Holy Dominion. But within three months the launch sites in Borneo and the Gilbert Islands were scheduled to come online to launch much larger ones in orbit and most of these would be used to study the League of Tripoli. The trucks stopped and large underground doors opened and they entered. She immediately knew from the construction that this underground base was built by Rabbits.

"Reminds me of a certain family burrow back home," her Fox said as they traveled deeper.

"It does, doesn't it," Judy said and smiled.

"I wonder how far down and spread out it is."

"I'd bet they're down to the bedrock and fifty miles around."

The trucks stopped and they began to unload their gear. Nick noticed them coming.

"Judy," he said and poked his bunny. "Our reception committee is here."

She turned and looked at them. Then she smiled.

"Joan Conner, what are you doing here?"

"Colonel Wilde, I'm here to take you and your adjutant to the base commander.

"It's been what five years," she said and touched her arm. "Just what have you been up to?"

A Fox stood beside her and Nick looked at him and smiled.

"James," he said and raised an eyebrow. "So you and Joan are …"

"Married," he said, putting an arm around her.

"Please follow us," Joan said and turned.

Joan and her Fox lead them to a conference room and sat.

"The base commander will join us in a few minutes," James said. "Would you like something to drink?"

"A beer would be nice," Nick said and Judy poked him.

Nick chuckled.

"We'll take you to the officer's club later," Joan said and smiled. "For now its carrot juice," Judy made a face, "water, or soda."

"Water," Judy said.

"Soda," Nick said.

James set the glasses before them and a minute later the door opened.

"Major Friedkin," Judy said and smiled, "I haven't seen you since just before Nick graduated."

"It's General now," the female polar bear said and returned the smile. "Judy, you were my best student." Nick chuckled. "And you Nicholas Wilde were my most annoying."

"You know you love me," he said and Judy burst out laughing.

General Friedkin rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"Sorry ma'am," Judy said, wiping her eyes and then glaring at her Fox. "And so is Nick."

"Sorry General," he said, attempting to at least look apologetic.

"Anyway, as you know the League of Tripoli has started to send scouting parties south and we'd prefer they not find these bases or learn that the combined armies are coming north."

"And my command and others are going to intercept them and bring them back here for questioning," Judy said.

"Won't that alert them that something is goin' on?" Nick asked.

"It might, but we have to do somethin'," the General said.

"And if they start sending planes to scout," Judy said.

"They'll disappear too," the polar bear said.

"It's going to be a tricky balancing act," Judy said."

"All we need to do is at least slow them down at least until our armies gets here."

* * *

General Shinya found that riding in an air conditioned armored personnel carrier was much easier than riding a horse or walking. The intelligent animals also provided his troops new and more powerful weapons and body armor. What really surprised him was the short time it took for them to get familiar with all the new equipment. Another benefit of the new equipment was the speed that they moved toward the Pass of Fire – they would be there with the week! The force from California would arrive from the north a week later and the Alliance fleet and one of the battle groups brought from Earth 2 would arrive at that same time. They had fought several minor engagements and had easily surrounded the smaller Holy Dominion forces. Then using the same nerve gas as they had on Zanzibar they simply put them to sleep.

"Let Sister Audry's "Army of the Sisters" take charge of them before they wake," General Shinya told his commanders after the last battle. "She and her people have turned quite a few of them lately."

They hurried off and he went to the officers mess tent. He smiled when he entered and saw Ben and Sister Audry in deep discussion and knew exactly what they were talking about. He went through the line and then sat down with them.

"So have you showed her the movie?"

The sister made a face and Ben chuckled.

"Oh yes," he said and patted the sister's hand. "And I gave her a copy of our Bible and also one from Earth 2."

"Your opinion Sister?"

She sighed.

"God has revealed himself to the many version of Earth and has apparently created the … what did you call it Ben?"

"The multiverse," he said and smiled.

"And apparently the message is the same in all the multiverse – love thy neighbor as you would yourself. It's said a bit different, but in the end it's the same message. Of course what the Holy Dominion did is simply a perversion of Christianity."

"In our religion we have priests which can be any species or gender," Ben said and saw Audry wince at the mention of gender, "and I don't think any minor theological differences really matters that much."

"I think Ben is correct on that point," she said and smiled at the Cheetah. "As long as we believe in God and follow the right path is what really matters."

General Shinya nodded in agreement.

"Good," he said and his face grew more serious. "With our input the plan to take the Pass of Fire is now complete. After we finish lunch we'll go to my office and review the details."

* * *

As the three armies pushed up along the coasts the one in the East encountered the most resistance since this was the direction that the Grik Empire had originally spread. These Grik attacked in the traditional manner and were soon overwhelmed by army's shear firepower which led to the inevitable Grik rout. The Grik in rear simply slaughtered their fleeing comrades and then the attacking army would fall on them leading to same result. Needless to say this led to very few Grik being captured. Like this the combined armies advanced steadily.

The army on the west coast advanced much quicker than the other two since they found fewer Grik in much smaller towns. Once they were found the allied armies used the ships traveling along the coast with them to land troops behind the Grik. These Grik would come to fight, but when they saw what they faced and had they'd been surrounded most of time Grik rout was the result. Since there were fewer to react to Grik rout and therefore more of them were captured.

The route directly north from the Republic of Real People turned out to be the most interesting at least to the scientists, but to the troops having build roads or to widen existing ones it was just a slog through the jungles. Approximately very hundred miles an airfield was built for the ubiquitous reconnaissance aircraft that flew ahead of the advancing armies. These airfields would be built ahead of the advancing army by clearing a patch of jungle using bomb nicknamed a 'Daisy Cutter' on Earth 2 which had a blast radius of 300 to 900 feet. Then helicopters would bring combat engineers who leveled the ground with bulldozers and then lay down interlocking metal plates to create the runway. Usually within a week they would create a 5000 foot runway with its attendant infrastructure which was actually a bit longer than necessary for the light reconnaissance aircraft.

Beside the Grik themselves the biologists traveling with the army found many interesting animals. The animals were mostly reptilian while a few others were obviously mammalian. Also, many plants were found that had been extinct for millennia on both Earth 2 and the animal's original planet. They tended to slow army, wanting to stop constantly to study various things. The commanders tried to hurry them along only to be reminded by the head scientist that their work had priority only subordinate to actually fighting the Grik. Since that weren't currently fighting the Grik they would work at their own pace. The commanders grumbled, but followed their orders.

A month after leaving the Republic of Real People they joined the other army pushing into the interior of the continent via the Zambezi River. More troops from the Republic and Earth 2 jumped off to follow behind them about that same time. Using the infrastructure built by the preceding troops they advanced much faster and joined them two hundred miles north of the Zambezi River. Then they started to spread out in a much wider front.

* * *

Late in the day Judy was notified to report with her troops to the base's mustering hall the next day at 9am. She texted them immediately and found Nick waiting for her at their barracks.

"Supper?"

"Sure," she said and smiled. "Just let me clean up a bit."

"Just let me give you a hand," he said and she chuckled.

"OK," she said.

Judy showered and he brushed out her fur. Nick smiled and his green eye twinkled.

"You look enough to eat," he said and his bunny rolled her eyes.

"Just don't you get any ideas!" she said, shaking a finger at him.

"Maybe just a nibble?"

"I've heard that before and then we're an hour late," she said, giving her Fox a shove toward the bathroom. "Go on."

Nick chuckled and took his shower. Judy got his brush and then returned the favor when he came out. When they got to the mess hall they found Dennis holding court, telling one of his outrageous and somewhat improbable stories. Judy looked at her fox, went through the chow line, and joined the listeners. When the story session ended Judy could only shake her head.

"Dennis," she said, stretching out his name.

"I swear Judy that's just the way it happened and that's the God's honest truth!"

Larry nodded his head in agreement and she smiled.

"OK, Dennis, I believe you."

He smiled and patted her hand.

"Thanks Judy."

She looked around the mess hall and noticed almost all her people were there.

"OK, everyone, it's getting late and we have that meeting tomorrow so …"

"Yes, mom," everyone chorused and Nick laughed.

"You put them up to them to that!"

Her Fox only smiled and she stood and walked toward the door. He followed and heard chuckles from behind them. She didn't speak to him until they got back to their room.

"Judy, I'm sorry," he said to her back. "Are you angry?"

Her foot began to tap the floor and she turned on him. Then he punched him in the arm.

"Ouch!" he said and rubbed his arm.

"You're a naughty Fox!" she said and shook a finger at him.

"And that's just the way you like me!"

She laughed and set her head against his chest. Then he put his arms around his bunny and tilted her head up. Green eyes met purple ones.

"I love you," he said and caressed her.

"And I love you too," she said and hugged him.

He carried her to their bed and they made love for what seemed like hours. They fell asleep in each other's arms in a pleasant exhaustion. Judy awoke first and looked at her sleeping Fox. Then she gently hugged him, trying her best not to wake her Fox. Then she slipped out of bed and showered. When she came out he was awake and studied at her nude form. Judy's ears came up and turned red. As before he brushed out her fur and went to shower himself. Afterward they went to breakfast, holding hands.

* * *

Judy and her Fox walked to the mustering hall with the rest of her people in tow and took their seats. She listened to them speculate on their mission and smiled. Exactly at 9am General Friedkin entered the hall and everyone stood at attention. She walked up to the podium and opened her notebook.

"Everyone, please be seated," she said. "Our satellites and our high flying reconnaissance aircraft have discovered several exploration parties heading south and one is headed in the general direction of this base. They're still two hundred miles north, but I'd prefer they not get any closer."

"Do you think they've discovered this base?" Nick asked.

"No," the General said. "We've been monitoring their communications and even though it's in code which we easily broke," the polar bear smiled, "there aren't any indications they've located this base or any of the others. Colonel Wilde, your people will intercept them and bring back to base."

"When do we leave?" she asked excitedly.

* * *

"Dalibor, I'm glad you've agreed to ride with me," General Halik said, looking at the human.

"I can keep an eye on you much better this way," he said and smiled. "When you turn on us which you inevitable will you will be the first to die and the Alliance will then will be justified in destroying your entire race."

Halik laughed, but knew there was some truth in the Czech's words. His people would have to learn to live in peace with all the other races on the world. He didn't show it, but the demonstration of the weapons from Earth 2 had scared him. He looked across the strait which would be called the Bosporus on Earth 2.

"So that's Europe," he said and pointed across the narrow gap between the continents. "You homeland would be …"

"About 1800 kilometers northwest," Dalibor said, pointing in the direction, "if we were on my Earth."

"If you wanted you could fly …"

"It's not my homeland," he said and turned back the way they'd come.

General Halik sighed and followed the human.

"You don't think we should cross into Europe," the Grik said.

"No," Dalibor said and pointed northeast, "we should continue along the southern shore of the Black Sea and explore the land between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. It's called the Caucasus and was oil there on my world."

* * *

When the USS Donaghey and New United States Congress sailed into the harbor a rumble came from astern and then steady grew in intensity. Soon Captain Greg Garret and Captain Ezra Willis had to cover their ears as did the rest of their crews. Everyone looked up to see a large aircraft slowly pass over them and then land vertically on the far side of bay from Santiago. The two captains could only stare openmouthed for a time until the aircraft's engines shutdown.

"One of yours?" Ezra asked with a bullhorn.

"No, I've never seen a plane that large," Greg shouted back. "Ezra, can we drop anchor over there?"

"Yes, that part of the harbor is quite deep."

He made their way back to the bridge and ordered the course change. Twenty minutes later they dropped anchor and lower boats. They went ashore and climbed the hill leading to the airfield. When they topped the ridge they saw bipedal animals unloading the plane. A tall Cheetah was talking to a man in American uniform and they both turned to look at the shore party in surprise.

"Kari!" the man shouted seeing the cat.

"Fred!" she yelled and ran toward her friend.

They caught each other in a hug and just held on until the others joined them.

"Ensign Reynolds, I presume," Captain Garret said and smiled.

Both Ensigns turned and saluted and the Captain returned it.

"Yes, sir," Ensign Fred Reynolds said and extended a hand. "Welcome to Cuba."

The Captain shook and then looked at the smiling Cheetah.

"Major General Benjamin Clawhauser, commander of the Earth 3 Expeditionary Forces."

"Earth 3?" Greg asked.

"Apparently we do have a great deal to talk about."

* * *

Greg marveled that the airplane was actually cool inside! He and Ezra said across from Ben as food was brought out by the two Ensigns and another woman who took a seat beside the Cheetah.

"This is my wife, Beth," Ben said and then smiled at the Captain's expressions.

"You married a human!" Greg blurted out.

"It was love at first sight," Beth said and put her head on his shoulder.

"After she tamed me what else could I do," he said and chuckled.

"Ben," she said and playfully swatted him. "It really wasn't all that hard."

Ben laughed and hugged his mate. Greg also noticed that Kari and Fred were listening very intently.

"It's hard to believe all the changes over the last few months," Fred interrupted and looked at Kari. "Sorry Captain."

"It's OK, Ensign," Greg said.

"Ben," Ezra began, "please tell us more about the plans for the war with the Doms."

"First, we're bringing you a new ship."

"How!" Ezra exclaimed.

"In pieces," he said and patted the plane's hull.

* * *

Greg couldn't believe how fast the ship was being assembled. Large lights for night work had been setup and in the last week they'd worked twenty-four hours a day with the cargo planes landing about every four hours. The pieces had been loaded onto large trucks beforehand and all that was necessary was to drive them off the plane and replace them with the ones that had been unloaded at the shipyard. As soon as a piece was delivered to the shipyard it was lifted from the truck by a large crane and bolted into place. Then the welders went to work.

To his eye the ship was about three quarters completed with the decks open forward of the center of the ship. At first he didn't see a bridge and when he asked he was told that it would below decks toward the rear of the ship. When has asked the next most obvious question at least to him anyway Ben told him that the ship used cameras mounted to ship and ones on small orbiting aircraft. Then he explained about radar and the satellites that had been placed in orbit. Greg knew he must look ridiculous standing there slack jawed. Ben smiled and patted him on the shoulder.

"Of course, I haven't told you about the engines either."

He'd watch them being installed and did think they looked a bit odd.

"What about them?"

"They don't use oil or coal."

He'd wondered why the ship hadn't any stacks.

"What else is there?"

"It runs on electricity generated by a fusion reactor."

"Fusion," he muttered and the word tickled his memory.

"What makes a star glow," Ben hinted.

Then it came to him from his college physics class.

"My God!"

"It's just one of the things we were ahead of Earth 2."

The ship was completed by the end of the next week and its crew was on the last flight. The dry dock was flooded and only a few leaks were found and quickly fixed. The fusion reactor was started and then every system was checked. After a few minor glitches were fixed the ship, christened the Zootopia II, was ready for her maiden voyage. This would only entail a quick cruse around the bay and along the coast.

Ben escorted Captains Garret and Willis, some of key people from both navies, and a few New United States government officials to the bridge.

"It feels odd going inside a ship to its bridge," Fred said as they rode the elevator down to the command deck.

"You'll find quite a few things different about this ship," Ben said, looking back at everyone. "It's one of the most advance warships in our Navy. With the satellites we've put and continue to put in orbit, radar, lidar, sonar, it's aerial and aquatic drones, and the weapons systems it could most likely defeat the naval forces of the League of Tripoli alone."

The elevator opened and it was a quick walk to the bridge. Three marines waited at the door and checked everyone against their lists. Then the doors slid open and a Deer turned to her visitors.

"Welcome to the bridge," she said. "I'm Mary Hirsch, Captain of the Zootopia II." She stepped closer to her guests and smiled. "Welcome to my ship. I hope you don't mind going for a short ocean voyage."

Her visitors all laughed.

* * *

"Ma'am, the dry dock gates are open," the navigator said, "and we're ready to maneuver."

"Take us ahead all slow," the Captain said and looked the main screen which currently displayed both the bow and stern of the ship. "Launch our aerial drones."

The Weapons Master touched a few keys and a hatch open on the bow of the ship. Then six saucer shaped drones lifted off vertically one after another. The large crowd present pointed as they took their stations and hovered above the ship. The Weapons Master touched a few keys and two drones passed low over the crowd. They reflexively ducked and the Captain looked at the Wolf and cleared her throat.

"Ma'am, just testing them out," she said and the Captain rolled her eyes.

There were a few chuckles around the bridge from the bridge crew and her guests. The Zootopia II cleared the dock and soon entered the bay.

"One quarter speed," Captain Hirsch ordered and twenty-five seconds later the ship reached the appropriate speed. "Deploy the marine drones."

As Fred looked at the main screen a smaller box opened on the right side. To his eye it looked as if the ship were launching torpedoes, but the screen soon shown the six drones taking stationed ahead of, beside, and behind the ship.

"Captain," Fred said and the Deer turned, "how fast are we going?"

"Twenty knots."

"But you ordered quarter speed."

"You are correct, I did."

"Just what is the top speed of this ship?"

Captain Hirsch looked over her shoulder and smiled.

"You'll see," she said and turned back to watch the main monitor. "Propulsion, status of the engines."

"No problems, Ma'am," the Rabbit said and scanned her screen. "All speeds are now available at the Captain's discretion."

"Half speed," she ordered and the passengers were pushed back in their seats. "Traffic?"

"All clear ahead, Ma'am," the navigator said, "for twenty miles."

"Take us out of the harbor fifteen miles, turn starboard, and then parallel the coast."

"Aye aye, Captain," the Navigator said.

Nineteen minutes and thirty-four seconds later the Zootopia II made the turn.

"Full speed ahead."

"Captain, we are now traveling at 83.72 knots," the Navigator said two minutes and twenty seconds later.

"The engine in performing at 98.3 percent," the Chief Engineer reported.

"How can props push a ship that fast?" Fred asked.

"There aren't any," Captain Hirsch said turning to him again. "In fact the engine has no moving parts whatsoever. This ship uses Magnetohydrodynamic propulsion."

Fred knew he was just sitting there slack jawed again. The Captain smiled at him and he felt Ben pat his shoulder again.

"Captain if I may," the Chief Engineer said and the Captain indicated that he could. "An electric current is passed through the seawater in the presence of an intense magnetic field, which interacts with the magnetic field of the current through the water. Functionally, the seawater is then the moving, conductive part of an electric motor. Pushing the water out the back accelerates the Zootopia II forward."

"God, we're so far behind you!"

"You'll catch up in time," Ben said and smiled at him.

They cruised along for the next ten minutes and checked the systems.

"Captain, subsurface contact 26.4 miles west southwest," the sonar tech reported.

"Battlestations!" Captain Hirsch announced and activity on the bridge increased.

"All weapon systems are ready and active," the Weapons Master reported.

"Reduce to quarter speed," she said and Fred felt the ship slow.

"Deploy aerial and underwater drones and launch torpedoes when ready," Captain Hirsch said and watched the main screen.

"Captain Hirsch," Fred began and she turned to look at him.

"Fred," Ben said.

"Captain, I know you think that this is a submarine from the League, but …"

"Fred, don't make me …"

"If that's one of subs from our world and you sink it Captain Reddy will …"

"Master at Arms," Captain Hirsch began and a Tiger stood.

"Sit down!" Ben ordered, standing looking at the Tiger.

The Master at Arms sat and the Deer stared at him openmouthed.

"Captain Hirsch, Captain Garret has raised a valid point, but he simply doesn't understand the technical abilities of your ship. So please continue your duties and I shall explain it to him and our other GUESTS."

"Yes sir."

She turned back and then continued to issue orders. Fred felt the ship shudder several times and looked at Ben. The other guests turned to listen also.

"Fred, the torpedoes that are being launched are not like yours. This ship has complete control of them even after they are in the water. They can be stopped short of the target and then be used if necessary. Also the drones will be able to identify the sub before any action is taken."

"I didn't mean …"

"As I said you did raise a valid point and the Captain should have taken a moment to explain, and I do understand why you spoke up."

"Ben, we've been fighting a war for over three years and we started with only two old broken down destroyers and a few hundred good men. With Captain Reddy's leadership, some good friends and allies, and a lot of luck we've survived. I read what happened to you on your world and what you faced on Earth 2, but you had your entire civilization behind you. And Ben you enemy were only mindless dead humans."

Ben sighed.

"I'll admit you probably had it worse than we did, but for now let's just give Captain Hirsch the benefit of the doubt and let's watch how this ship performs."

Captain Hirsch was annoyed with Fred, but she angry with Ben. He usurped her authority in front of her crew and the visitors! She took a deep breath and then concentrated on the task at hand.

"Aquatic drones have reached the target," the Weapon's Master reported and scanned his screen. "The submarine is not of American, Russian, or British design. Also, the torpedoes have arrived and are now holding on station."

"Weapons Master, please attach one of our drones to their hull and then let's let them know that we know where they are."

* * *

The German Captain smiled as he thought how they had been observing the New United States shipping for over a month now and the primitive Americans with their antiquated wooden ships didn't have any idea that they were even there. He chuckled and his Executive Officer looked at him.

"Captain."

"Did our sonar pick anything again?"

"They haven't reported anything, but I'll check."

As the Executive Officer turned a sound reverberated throughout the ship. The Captain and Executive Officer stared at each other. Then the entire crew heard a voice through the hull of their submarine. Fortunately some of the crew including the Captain understood English.

"I'm Mary Hirsch, captain of the Frigate Zootopia II and we're nine point five miles from your current location. My ship will be at your location in four minutes. You are illegally operating in the territorial waters of the New United States. You will surface and surrender your submarine. As you may have surmised one of my drones has attached itself to your hull. We know exactly where you are located and six of my torpedoes are within one thousand feet of your ship. Now listen." They heard the motor of one of the torpedoes pass with ten feet of the conning tower and ten seconds later Captain Hirsch's voice returned. "Now I will detonate it." The explosion occurred fifteen hundred feet away, pushing the submarine's nose sideways and knocking the most of the crew into nearby bulkheads. "You now have twenty seconds to blow your ballast and surface. If you don't I shall detonate the one behind you, but it will be much closer. Also, when you break surface if anyone touches the deck gun I'll immediately sink you."

The Captain looked at his Executive Officer and sighed. Ten seconds later submarine begin to rise.

* * *

The submarine surfaced a quarter mile away and every weapon on the Zootopia II was trained on it. The crew came out on deck and raised their hands. Captain Hirsch sent over a boarding party which was led by Fred. Since everyone in the boarding party except Fred and several Lemurians were wearing full body armor none of them suspected the nature of their captors. Fred and the Lemurian guards returned and led the Captain and his executive officer through the Zootopia II to ship's largest conference room.

"I'm certainly glad some of you speak English," Fred said, looking at the Captain. "Sorry, I guess I forgot to introduce myself. I am Captain Greg Garret and I command the American Navy clan ship USS Donaghey for the United Homes."

"Captain Hans Muller commanding the U-2432 for the League of Tripoli."

"Commander Klause Gehrig second in command."

"I guess we should've waited with introductions until Captain Hirsch and Major General Clawhauser get her."

"Can I ask you a question?" Captain Muller said.

"Yes."

"They are Lemurians, correct," he asked, indicating the guards.

"Yes."

"I heard about them before we left …"

Just then the door opened and the Captain entered. Fred saw the surprised look on Captain Muller face and smiled.

"You're a Deer!" he exclaimed in German.

"You're quite correct," she responded in the old Deer language which the two German officers understood perfectly.

* * *

Several hours later the USS Donaghey and New United States Congress arrived and took the crew off the submarine. The U-2432 was taken under tow by the Zootopia II and the three ships sailed back to back to Santiago.

"Captain Hirsch, what do you intend to do with my crew?" Captain Muller asked, staring at the Deer.

"Since your Destroyer Antunez attacked the USS Donaghey and they are our allies," she said in perfect German. "we are now technically in a state of war with the League of Tripoli."

She watched the German Captain wince.

"What happened to the Antunez?"

"She was sunk."

She saw him stiffen and then sigh.

"Mein Gott im Himmel!"

"If I were in your place I'd probably say the same thing," she said, looking out to sea. "We were more technically advanced than the version of Earth we migrated to and it is the year 2020AD there. The League has made several serious mistakes from what I've read. Your crew and the others the USS Donaghey captured from the Antunez will be interred here in Cuba for now. You and Commander Gehrig will be taken elsewhere."

"I want stay with my crew!"

"I understand, but you really have no say in the matter."

* * *

One aircraft carrier sat fifty miles off the Pass of Fire as the aircraft carrying the German naval officers lightly touched down on its deck. The ramp lowered and they were taken off under guard and then lead to another to another nondescript conference room aboard the enormous ship. Ben had come with them and was currently explaining how they came to Earth 3. As he'd told them of the discovery of the portal on Easter Island the door opened and several humans, cats, and animals entered.

"Ben!" Captain Reddy said and took the Cheetah's hand. "Everything settled with the New United States?"

"Yes."

Matt took a seat and looked at the German officers.

"Gentlemen, I'm guessing you're wondering why were brought you here."

"Yes, we were," Captain Muller said, looking at his executive officer momentarily and then back at Matt.

"It's fairly simple," he said and smiled. "You're going to watch us defeat the Holy Dominion and then at some point in the future you're going report what you saw to you superiors." Matt noticed that the two men looked distinctly unhappy at the prospect. "We won't be turning you over to them."

"Thank you," Captain Muller said and Matt smiled. "We met a German pilot, Walbert Fiedler, and he wasn't so happy with the League of Tripoli. Would it be that the majority of the German contingent isn't happy being part of the League of Tripoli."

The two men looked at each other and then they both smiled.

"Not really," Captain Muller said. "God! It felt good to say that out loud!"

"Would you be willing to tell us about the League?" Ben asked.

Captain Muller looked at his Executive officer and the other man smiled.

"Yes."

"Good," Matt said and smiled. "The Holy Dominion's fleet should be in range in about an hour."

* * *

Judy watched the three trucks come into view and smiled.

"Mr. Silva," she said, lying beside the large human atop a small hill, "please do the honors."

"Yes, Judy."

She covered her ears and Dennis fired into the engine of the lead truck. Steam and smoke boiled out and it came to a halt. Judy felt the concussion of Dennis' Doom Stomper and moved further away before he fired again. The succeeding two shots only a few seconds later put a quick end to the others. Men jumped down and her troops opened fire. Within the first thirty seconds eighteen of the twenty men where left twitching on the ground as the capacitors on the nonlethal ammunition discharged. The other two hid under the last truck, firing back as they caught glimpses of their attackers.

"Judy, I can flush'em out," Dennis said and grinned.

"Ok, but don't hit'em with that cannon of yours."

"I won't," he said and took aim.

The big gun roared and one of the rear tires of truck exploded. Then the gun fired again and the truck took a noticeable list. Then the gun fired a third time – the bullet actually passing through the trucks body and a tire on the far side exploded. The two men started to scramble back, not wanting to be crushed. They threw down their guns and raised their hands. The big gun fired for the fourth time the last rear tire exploded and the two men threw themselves to the ground.

"Dennis!" Judy shouted.

"Sorry Judy," he said and chuckled.

Judy rolled her eyes and directed the drone controllers to explore trucks. A minute later they indicated the trucks were clear.

"OK, everyone, move in and secure our prisoners," she said and stood. "Dennis, Nick, let's get down there!"

Five minute later all the weapons were collected and slowly the Leaguers slowly revived. Thirty minutes later one of the ubiquitous transports landed and Judy's team, Leaguers, and their trucks were flown away.

* * *

"Radar is picking up a great many airborne contacts," the radar tech announced and Captain Reddy smiled as he looked out from bridge of the newly updated USS Walker. "Comms, please inform the fleet to open fire when they are in range."

Seven minutes and twenty three seconds later the integrated fleet defense computers determined that the aerial targets were hostile and were in range. Every Phalanx CIWS and Metal Storm weapon in the fleet opened fire simultaneously. Four seconds later the Grik Birds ran into what would have seemed to an observer as a metal wall and then died in mass. Twenty eight seconds later the computers determine at 98.2% of the targets had been eliminated and then those same weapons of the lead elements of the fleet opened fire on the Holy Dominion Fleet.

Simultaneously the tops of masts, rigging, and sails of the closest twenty Dominion ships came crashing to the decks. Unfortunately some of the wood and sail had been set afire by the tracer rounds. Soon the crews were simply too busy fighting fires in the rigging and on deck to fight back. Then the combined Alliance and Earth 2 fleets were in amongst them and sweeping around the flanks of the enemy fleet. Within two hours the Dominion ships were completely encircled and two hours after that Dominion flags were being hauled down and while others ran up white flags after crews began to mutiny. Other ships continued to fight regardless until they were torches or sunk.

By dusk Captain Reddy saw a hundred smokes on the horizon and an hour later that same number of fires lit the night. Not many of the Dominion ships escaped their encirclement, but the three that did told their story to now panicked senior officers. By noon the next day the victorious fleet sailed to within sight of the shore. More Grik Birds attacked and received the same welcome as their brethren had the day previous. Shore batteries soon opened fire and the jet fighters from the aircraft carrier just as soon silenced them. Ashore the artillery from allied armies the north and south of the Pass of Fire opened fire and soon answering fire came from the Dominion cannons. Between the counter battery fire, ship's guns, missiles, and the jet fighters most of the Dominion artillery was put out of action.

The next part of the plan was then put into action. All firing ceased from the allied armies and then another rumble grew from the ocean. Dozens of jet fighters flew at high speed nearly at treetop level, passing over the Dominion lines. After ten minutes and ten low level passes most of the Dominion troops broke, throwing down their rifles and fleeing. The allied troops rose up and charged being led by tanks and armored personnel carriers with air support by helicopter gunships. Of course some Dominion troops continued to fight, but armored allied troops shrugged off the enemy fire and soon overran them. When the panicked Dominion troops reached the waters of the Pass of Fire they began to surrender in mass as the allied troop reached them. By dusk the Pass of Fire was totally in allied hands from the Pacific to the Atlantic Oceans.

Sister Audry's "Army of the Sisters" was given the duty for security of the Pass of Fire and the captured Dominion troops. All the higher ranking non-commissioned officers and officers were separated from the rest of the POWs and put into a separate holding area. Then Sister Audry's and her ex-Dominion troops started to 'interview' the lower ranking troops. Within a few days more than half renounced the Dominion and joined the "Army of the Sisters." By the end of the week after seeing how well the others had been treated and that God had not struck them dead as their officers had said over ninety percent had defected. The rest started the long march north to prison camps in southern California.

The rest of the allied armies moved south to join an army of animals landed the southern part of the Nuevo Granada Province on the same day the attack on Pass of Fire began. The many raids of the Nuevo Granada Province had lured the bulk of the remaining Dominion armies along the coast. Now as the allied armies moved south from the Pass of Fire and north from their landings further south they knew they would cut off their enemy. Ten days later the two armies joined and started their drive to the coast. They first the Dominion armies knew that were trapped was when artillery from both the sea and inland began to hit their positions. Soon the allied armies breached the Dominion lines in eighteen places and drove on to the ocean. Now over the next week each pocket of Dominion troops either surrendered or was overrun.

The Nuevo Granada Province shared the same name as the capital city of the Holy Dominion which happened to be the next and hopefully last target of the war. Nuevo Granada city lay fifteen hundred miles northeast across the mountains. The allied army swept across the province overrunning the last few remnants of the Dominion army and within ten days surrounded the capital. It was sort of an anticlimax to the war since they had already defeated the bulk of the Dominion army and there was only about fifteen thousand men left defend the city. Over the next two days the city walls the destroyed with artillery and airstrikes. Then the allied army entered the city from all directions simultaneously. With armor leading the way the city was overrun by noon the second day. His Supreme Holiness, Messiah of Mexico, and by the Grace of God, Emperor of the World – The Holy Dominion's leader – was found hiding in a closet and was soon whisked away to an unknown location – The New United States who were extremely happy to host him.

The leaders of the Alliance, the New United States, General Halik's Grik, Czech Dalibor Svec's Brotherhood of Volunteers, and the Animals of Earth 2 met on Easter Island to discuss their plans for dealing with the League of Tripoli and future of Earth 3. It was decided to continue the exploration of Africa until contact was made with the League of Tripoli. At that point the League would be given a choice to join with the Grand Alliance and live in peace or be swept aside. Some wanted to simply attack them first and be done with it, but cooler heads prevailed after the two German officers were brought in to speak about the League.

The future of Earth 3 turned out to be the easier of the two reach agreement. First, it was agreed that unlimited number of animals with be allowed to come to the new world and settle. Ben brought a proposal from the government of Earth 2 that anyone from Earth 3 who wished to would be allowed to immigrate. The Lemurians thought it might be a good idea to have themselves on both planets just as a contingency. Surprisingly General Halik thought that it was a good idea too. That raised a few eyebrows.

* * *

Judy's command had just completed their third and final mission, bringing back the last of the League's expeditions into the African interior. While they were finishing supper and listening to one of Dennis' stories Judy's phone vibrated with a message. She opened it and read and then a large smile spread across her face. She hugged her Fox.

"Judy?"

"Everyone, listen up!" Judy shouted and the conversations died. "General Friedkin has authorized us a month's R&R."

A cheer went up and she hugged her Fox again.

"Where should we go?" Nick asked his bunny.

"I've heard Cuba's nice.

* * *

His bunny was right, Nick thought. Cuba was wonderful. They lay in a beach chair under a palm tree with her head on his chest. It was a warm day, but the breeze off the ocean felt wonderful. Judy sat up and purple eye met green ones. She leaned forward and her lips touched his. Then the kiss deepened and she felt her Fox's hands exploring her body and finally come to rest on her tail. She felt him gently squeeze it and she arched her back and gasped. Then she felt his hand behind her head and his tongue on her throat. She moaned.

"God, you're like a couple of horny teenagers!"

They both looked up and saw Sophia standing a few feet away and smiling. Judy's ears turned a cherry red and Nick's turned pink. Then their daughter laughed.

"So are you here for a reason or just to spy on us?" Nick asked.

"What would I have seen if I arrived five minutes later?"

Judy buried her face in her Fox's chest fur and Sophia could have sworn she saw wisps of smoke coming from her mother's ears.

"I thought you were in …"

"I was."

"Then why …"

"They found another portal."


End file.
